When you are in the business of creating with your hands you are also in the business of creating relationships with your customers. If you aren’t prepared to do that, then you may want to consider if running a business is something you are willing to do.
As a blog consultant and art/business coach the second most difficult thing for artists is building relationships with their customers. Sometimes they don’t know how to do it, but most of the time it comes down to being terrified of connecting or reaching out for fear of rejection. If you are afraid of doing this….this is a conversation for another time, maybe even the next post. Nevertheless, back to the topic.
Today I’d like to share two ways you can build trust with your customers. Before we jump into these awesome and obvious things you can do, I’d like to mention a couple bits of super cool info I think you will find really interesting….and maybe a little helpful too!
It takes a minimum of 7 contacts with a customer online (contacts = emails, saying hello on Facebook, sending them a newsletter, etc.) before they will buy from you. However marketing research indicates that when it comes to small businesses selling products online like artists, it can take upwards of nearly 30 contacts before people will buy from you. Reasons for this can vary and are based on factors such as intelligence, childhood experiences, education level, country of origin, among other things.
Now all of this sounds like a lot. However, if you are connecting with your customers regularly and still having trouble building relationships, maybe the answer isn’t out there, isn’t inside. Here are two things YOU can do to build trust with your customers so they will feel confident to buy from you.
#1 Check your work
I know what you are thinking, this sounds totally obvious. Duh. I know it does, but you won’t believe me when I tell you this - out of all the consulting I’ve done and all the clients I’ve worked with a whopping 82% didn’t check their work before publishing it on their websites, listings, blogs, social media platforms, and so on. This is a huge chunk! If that is what you are thinking, then we are going in the right direction.
So what can you do about this? Simple, check your work before you publish it.
I know it sounds silly, but believe me, customers who see misspellings, poor use of grammar, missing punctuation, and so on are going to start paying more attention to all these “missing parts” as I’ve come to call them rather than your beautiful, wonderful, awesome handmade goodness. Believe me, you want a visitor to your site looking at that $80 necklace and not spelling mistakes.
Why is it important that you do this? Well, first of all it makes you look professional. It says to your customers and visitors that the person who put this site together took the time and effort to make this listing, blog post, website, and so on look and sound beautiful and well put together.
So next time you are writing a listing, updating your website or publishing a blog post - take a few minutes and have a friend or peer artist read it over for you. If you don’t have anyone to help you out, read it out loud; you’ll be surprised at the number of mistakes and funky grammatical things you come across.
#2 Respond Promptly and Professionally
As a business owner, an artist and an online seller, you have the world at your fingertips; which is a bonus! The downside to this is that you also have the world at your fingertips and as soon as they arrive they can be gone. You do not have the opportunity to talk to people - instead your photos, listings and other written and visual content do the selling for you.
When you do get the opportunity to speak to a REAL person this is your opportunity to shine! Let me share a story…
I was hired by a small company to do a total rework of their blog. My point of contact was their CEO who would send me questions or information. I would respond to her emails within the hour as they came in and always answered her questions in full detail. (My way of doing business is give my clients a bit more than what they expectbecause then they will always be pleasantly surprised!)
Days would then go by and I would not hear a thing. I would then send a follow up email to find out what was happening and every time this happened the CEO always had an excuse for not getting back to me; she always had a reason why her business was failing and why everything seemed to be falling apart. Essentially, it took a lot of prompting to get information from her to complete the job she hired me to do. In the end it took months to complete this project when in reality it should have only taken about three weeks.
In the end after the work was complete the CEO thanked me for the wonderful job I did on her site and my flexibility and professionalism. Then she asked if I would refer anyone to her business. Sadly, I haven’t given out one business card or shared anything about them until now. Why? Because I don’t want other people I know to have the same experience I had with them. Furthermore, this would reflect poorly on me if I referred someone I knew to help them and it went the same way.
While this story is about business to business services, the same rules apply: no matter if you are doing business with another artist, a company across town, and individual across the globe or your neighbor, always communicate professionally and promptly. As a good friend of mine always says, “Take the high road, because in the end, you’ll look back and appreciate your choice.”
Looking back, I’m happy I communicated professionally with this company. I could have responded and treated the CEO the same way she treated me, but instead, I choose to stick to my communication standard. - - There will always be difficult situations; it’s all in how you handle them.
In closing, doing business online is a fiercely competitive business, but you can prevail and you can succeed at it. Following these two tips will put you above the rest. Remember, people remember bad customer service but they relish GREAT customer service. Be the person who gives them great customer service and they will share, tell and blab about you until the cows come home.
I’ll see you all next time for another article to boost your spirit, inspire your dreams and help you promote your business. Have a great month everyone!
Guest contributor Martiel Beatty is a graphic and fiber artist, expert blogger, art coach and GIMP Wizard. She is the founder of Sewmantra and Co-Founder and Coach of Dream Your Success. She holds degrees in Anthropology, French and Drafting and has been working in fiber arts since 1986 and graphics since 1998. She lives and works in her home studio outside Washington, D.C.
Tags: Success on Zibet, Two Common Sense Ways to Build Trust with Your Customers
